food for lovers. of food.

Day 1: In which Jessica eats leftover Chinese food.

Hey, guys. It’s Vegan Mofo time. If you don’t know what that is, then edumacate yourselves. (Vegan Month of Food – we blog about vegan awesomeness for a month straight, hopefully every day and we’ll see how far I get, right?) Here is a blogroll (click!) of all the lovelies that are participating. Including me. So, since I have very little ambition except to blog every day, you’re only going to get one thing at a time out of me. Deal with it! (I just read The Rules of Attraction by Brett Easton Ellis, dig it.) Also: Rock n Roll. (Furthermore, for those of you who prefer the movie [I don’t understand you, but still]: Whatever, I don’t care, I don’t major in math.)

I didn't make this!

Today I went to lunch with my friend Joel at a Chinese restaurant called ‘Wonderful Restaurant’. Yes, really. There are a number of Chinese places in our town (at least 7), but Wonderful really earns its name. Actually, it blows every other place out of the water. In fact, I can prove this fact because the omnivore boyfriend and I got Chinese from a sub-par place last night, so I had less than 24 hours to compare and contrast the food. Last night’s food was watery, unsavory, flavorless, bland. Wonderful’s food was, in a word, delicious. They allow you to spice it how you choose (though they never seem to believe me when I ask for extra spicy food…the lady that is always there does not think that Americans understand Chinese hot [her own words to me once]). I continue to tell her that I love the spice and to please make it ridiculously hot. Well, this time they actually did. Perfection.

What you see above is Tofu with Black Pepper. It’s not saucy, but it doesn’t need to be. It bursts with flavor. Combined with a few bell peppers and onion, atop a bed of white (unfortunately) rice, it is the ultimate in Chinese takeout. I’ll even admit that I’m not sure I could re-create it. I’ll also admit that I ate the leftovers for dinner tonight. I’m sure I need more than a block of fried tofu and some rice to keep me alive, but that can wait until tomorrow.

Joel got some spicy cold noodles that were equally fabulous, but I didn’t have my camera in the restaurant to photograph them. I will definitely be getting them next time I’m on a lunch date, though. (Fun fact: Every time I have gone to this restaurant [3 total times], I have had a friendly lunch date with a different guy. I bet they think I’m a player to the maximum. I shall not deter them from thinking so.)

And so I begin Vegan Mofo with some food I did not cook. I actually have a few photos on my computer of food I did cook, but I was so inspired by rad Chinese food that I didn’t want it to go moldy in my brain before I blogged about it. Stay tuned for more mundane food that I am going to eat this month. I can tell you’re excited.

That is some perfect looking tofu! I actually like non-saucy tofu better, it’s extra firm and I like the crispiness. How cool that they let you adjust the heat to your taste! I am a heat-wimp, so I would have to ask for extra mild, wimpy heat.